Football Philosophy

Once you break a habit, it's very difficult to go back to the way things were. Occasions where
you were coasting along like it was second nature suddenly seem like uncharted territory. Every
step is a challenge involving multiple thoughts, anxious moments and uncertain decisions. Ever
since we were hammered 6-1 at Old Trafford on the blackest day in our recent memory, our form has
displayed the sort of scratchy incompetence of a broken habit.

Ducky's Note: Much like Torres' drought, BigFourZa has been suffering a
lack of Chelsea contributions, putting the very name of ourÂ site at risk. Much like Torres' goal
at OT, Sushajith has stepped up andÂ broken the 27-month drought inÂ BFZ's blue
corner. Much like Torres' later miss in the same game.

For exactly 40-odd seconds at Old Trafford yesterday, it seemed like Drogba had funnelled all
the talk about Chelsea and their owners' 'obsession' into one surging run and aÂ nerveless finish
to leave Chelsea one goal short of what would be a definite Champions League Classic.Â At that
moment all football writers wondered if they should rewrite the headlines for the morning papers,
from singing paens about United and Sir Alex to Didier Drogba who did, at that moment, look like he
would single-handedly drag 10 men in BlueÂ to a famous victory.

For exactly 40-odd seconds at Old Trafford yesterday, it seemed like Drogba had funnelled all
the talk about Chelsea and their owners' 'obsession' into one surging run and aÂ nerveless finish
to leave Chelsea one goal short of what would be a definite Champions League Classic.Â At that
moment all football writers wondered if they should rewrite the headlines for the morning papers,
from singing paens about United and Sir Alex to Didier Drogba who did, at that moment, look like he
would single-handedly drag 10 men in BlueÂ to a famous victory.

Ducky's Note: BigFourZa's regular Manc Bharat Dutt is
back, and is a really angry young man after the FA upheld Rooney's two-match ban. However, he
argues, it's totally not the end of the world. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Ducky's Note: BigFourZa's regular Manc Bharat Dutt is
back, and is a really angry young man after the FA upheld Rooney's two-match ban. However, he
argues, it's totally not the end of the world. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Football in England is all about tribalism. It's about supporting your village against the
other, and it dates back to, well, forever. So I am informed by two gentlemen from London on this
blog who have, apart from livening up proceedings around these parts, given us a peek into
a few chants that we simply can't hear over the airwaves, HD or no HD.

Ducky's Note: On the back of some good ol' mud-slinging that has been going on at BigFourZa
between the usual suspects (being Le Arse and The Devils), I will stealthily slip-in a guest post
about why we do all the mud-slinging we do from Debjit Lahiri. Debjit is a Chelsea
fan (yes, they still exist!

And I don't think there will be much argument with that even from the inexplicably
gooner-dominated football websphere. In what has become a trend of late, none of Arsenal's
"free-flowing" football has ever been allowed to flow at Old Trafford, and yesterday was no
different.

Ducky's Note: Long-ass international breaks are like gravity. They
really suck. However, in the midst of all the gloom and bad puns, the United section of this blog
has added a new contributor in Siddarth. Siddarth has been writingÂ United for a while now and has
contributed pieces to The Busby Way and Stretford End Arising.

The international break almost always brings with it a hella lot of boredom, oft-repeated jokes
and for Arsenal players, new types of injuries from tripping over a blade of grass or running into
a stiff breeze. See what I meant about oft-repeated jokes? They also seem to come by too often
these days you barely get 4-5 games of your club and suddenly everyone's back to Capello and
kidding themselevses about whether this is finally England's year.

Ducky's Note: As I stand suitably chastised for writing off our team in
Valencia, where they came back with a classic smash and grab, Ankur is back with his second post
for BFZ. While it's not an emotion we would expect after what should be a Serotonin-inducing
victory yesterday, we must admit it's something that's been on every Manc's mind for long.

Zero. A magical number in many ways. It seems empty and valueless at the outset, rather like
Robinho's head (in appearance and description). But once you begin unraveling its many layers,
you'll be shocked at the countless things it can be associated with. Lassana Diarra's IQ. The
number of footballers in the English football team.

In my experience, predictions made by the â€˜expert pundits' have a success rate equal to that
of Bangladesh in Test Cricket. Factor in that even a draw counts as a success to the Bangladeshis
and it makes this statistic infinitely bleaker. All sooth saying that have been done with
Reputations as a frame of reference this time around in South Africa have fallen flat; as flat as
Russell Peters' stand up shows are when you watch them for even just the second time.

Ducky's Note: In a moment of incdredible irony for all of us here at BigFourZa, our first
full season as a blog about The Big Four has resulted in one of the Big Four not finishing in the
Top Four. As always, we maintain that we stand by our Scouser friend for the next season and many
more to come.

Ducky's Note:Â Robert Blanchette is a lifelong United fanÂ and an Old Trafford regular since
the tender age of 9. HeÂ has his own blog at View from Tier 3 which is, obviously, the views of a
season-ticket holder form Tier 3 at Old Trafford. The following post deals with a question which
has hit very close to home for this blog especially, considering it's a blog about 'The Big Four'
Will it become the 'Big Three' for next season, and the seasons to follow?

My affair with Chelsea began when I watched a little man who went by the name of Gianfranco
Zola, a man famously described as a "clever little so-and-so". It was either his intelligence on
the pitch or his five foot five tallÂ stature. I'm not quiteÂ sure. But I was infatuated at first
sight.

But, what started out as an off and on thing, with me catching a couple of games now and then,
heck I couldn't name most clubs in the league in those days, turned into a more serious
relationship, not with the arrival of Mourinho, but rather ironically, with the arrival of some
very annoying United fans to my high school.

WhenÂ Mr. Liverpool playedÂ his best pass all season for Drogba to round Liverpool's bestÂ player
all season and put Chelsea 1-0 up ahead at Anfield, our own Kop Writer on this blog said that 'he
had never ROTFLed so hard all season'. It was not that the pathetic back-pass was absurdly comical,
it could NOT have been funny at all for a Scouser.

The dust has barely settled. Not after yesterday's game but after after yesterday's
game. The scenes at the Nou Camp were both awe-inspiring and ugly, depending on which side of the
fence you're watching from. Sometimes it was plain comical, if you were sitting on the said fence
through the 100 minutes of madness.

Ducky's Note: Prashanth is back just in time to make up for the lack of Mancunian posts on
this blog. However, if you thought he was going to show fellow feeling with the rest of us and go
boo hoo about the last week, think again. Here's a slightly different perspective on our last two
games in the famous 'squeaky bum time'.

Dimitar Berbatov. Love him, hate him, sigh about him, throw your hands up in frustration about
him, but you just can't seem to ignore him. We certainly haven't, on this blog and I believe we've
now had enough on the subject that it's practically a trilogy now. On that note, you can catch Part
IÂ hereÂ and a sort of a follow-on rebuttal in Part II here.

The boss has long been derided for not taking the League Cup seriously enough drawing flak from
all and sundry. He has been roundly criticized for not grabbing the opportunity of winning a trophy
(any trophy!) and pursuing unrealistic Champions League dreams instead. He has been accused of
prioritizing one competition over the other and showing disrespect to two of the oldest cup
competitions in the world.

Clearly this Arsenal side is woefully short on quality, quantity and height. If we are to win
the league make Europe next season, it is imperative we make some massive buys. We all saw what
happened to Liverpool right? City came into the scene, splashed a few dozen gazillion pounds and
Voila! Champions League football baby!

Maddy's Note: A highly indignant albeit slightly inebriated Felipe is back.
This is not his run of the mill review you might have noticed. His posts usually span 1500 words
and you almost relive the entire game with them.

It's been a week almost since Ramsey was stretchered off with 2 shattered bones in his playing
leg. All of us have had plenty of time to get our emotions to ground state again and we're
certainly much more level headed than immediately after the game when we were unanimously calling
for Shawcross' head.